This course is available to both Queen’s and non-Queen’s students. Non-Queen’s students (including interest students, visiting students, and new online degree students) must first apply for admission. The following is presented for informational purposes only and is subject to change.

Instructor

Lori Vos Learn more about the instructor...
E-mail: vosl@queensu.ca
Phone: (613) 545-0509

Course Description

This online writing course is a study of the basic principles of academic writing, including a series of assignments that emphasize logical organization, stylistic clarity, and grammatical precision.

Course Introduction

WRIT 125/3.0 (Effective Writing I) is a course about fundamentals. One of its main purposes is to familiarize students with the essential components of the academic essay: the thesis statement, topic sentences, paragraph structure, and basic grammar and style. Students who have a firm grasp of these principles, and an opportunity to put them into practice and to receive feedback on their attempts, are likely to produce better essays.

But producing better essays is not an end in itself. The process of planning, preparing, and writing a university essay gives students the opportunity to engage with a particular topic, think critically about it, determine their own perspective and opinion on the subject, and present that perspective to their readers in a clear and coherent way. WRIT 125/3.0 helps students through every stage of that process: prewriting, drafting, writing, and editing. This course also gives students the opportunity to write a number of different types of essays: for example, the critical review, the comparison essay, and the research paper, each of which is an integral part of the general university curriculum.

One major change in this revised edition of WRIT 125/3.0 is a greater emphasis on grammar, sentence structure, and style. It is common to hear students say, "I have good content but my style is weak" or "The prof liked my ideas but trashed my writing." In fact, an essay's ideas and the writing go hand in hand. Original and creative thoughts, awkwardly expressed, will not impress a reader; neither will perfectly constructed but uninteresting sentences. WRIT 125/3.0 will not only help students to develop and organize their ideas, but also provide instruction and exercises in basic grammar, particularly in those areas where students may be having the most difficulty.

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More information:

• Computer Requirements and Internet Access
• Moodle, Our Online Learning Environment 
• Academic Integrity
• Evaluation
• Suggested Time Commitment
• Required Material